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Fish Type: Haddock     Price: $18.00

Overall, I would not recommend this Fish Fry.

Fish Score: Fair
Potato Score: Good
Tartar Score: Good
Bread Score: Good
Miscellaneous Score: Good

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Comment: We went to Boston with one thing in mind: eat as much fresh seafood as possible, and sprinkle in some fried fish now and again. I can honestly say we nailed it (save for one night when we let the kid have a Boston-style pizza).

Predictably, our first meal in Boston was fish 'n' chips at the closest restaurant to our hotel - in this case Legal Sea Foods in the Copley shopping center. Legal is a surprisingly swanky joint and the 2-piece haddock runs a hefty $18. It comes regular or spicy and I selected the spicy which was seemingly just a Sriracha batter...for some reason I anticipated a seasoned breading instead. This batter had plenty of heat and a reddish hue which serves to justify my Sriracha hypothesis. The pieces were hearty for sure, but had several black fryer crumbs sticking to them here and there. The flavor was fine but about as basic as it could actually be for being "spicy." The only notable part of it was the slight heat on on the back end and while the fish was okay, it wasn't the pristine meat I was expecting in Beantown.

The fries were also nothing special - just freezer to fryer jobs, but there were a bunch of them at least. Being that the fish was so beefy the small cup of tartar was no match and ran dry after piece #1. The fish needed the boost so the second piece really suffered. It was also not well planned as you could barely dip the wide fillets in the skinny cup. Maybe for those who use silverware it works out, but not here...I had a cracked cup when wall was said and done.

Legal trots out basket of rolls whether you get fish or not and the the crusty little buns were definitely a step up from the Wisco norm. Likewise, the slaw was basic but pretty tasty and actually the first thing on my plate to be finished.

As I mentioned in the intro we came to Boston with one thing in mind, and despite the fact our first meal as fried, we also got an app of oysters and the Wellfleet and Cotuits were easily the best part of the meal. They were fresh from the Atlantic and briny as all get out and while they turn a lot of people off, I'm becoming more and more enamored. Overall, we don't recommend this "Fish Fry" and would steer clear of it on our next trip to New England. While we did like some things about it there were just a few too many missteps for my tastes.



www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/boston-copley-place-14
100 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02116

(617) 266-7775